The next artist going country… or… something like that.
This week, the iHeartRadio Music Awards took place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California, where artists like Jelly Roll, Post Malone and Morgan Wallen all took home awards.
While the show is nothing to write home about (I honestly didn’t even know they were happening), there was an interesting interview floating around TikTok with rapper BigXthaPlug, who was recently spotted in the studio with some familiar faces including Ernest, Post Malone and producer Charlie Handsome (Ryan Vojtesak, who notably works with Morgan Wallen), as well as producer BANDPLAY from the rap world.
In an interview with Billboard on the carpet before the show, BigXthaPlug was asked if he’s planning to really make some country music, to which he said yes, explaining that he already has a lot of support from several different artists:
“Why not go to country where I know I’ve got a lot of support, from my brother people like my brother Shaboozey, Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, you know, we’ve been working already so let’s put it in the project and see what we can do.”
Big talked about being in the studio with Post Malone, saying the new stuff is coming, and the interview then asked about how he’d handle pushback, considering how much flack Beyoncé got for doing something similar.
He says that he’s a true “artist,” and doesn’t want to be boxed into one genre… adding that “they can’t hate it if it sounds good.” I mean, fair enough… I’m not expecting to hear a ’90s country Brooks & Dunn-style song anyways:
“I mean, it’s the difference between somebody that doesn’t like… hip-hop, a rapper and an artist. So I’m saying, people like Beyoncé, me and a bunch of people that have been able to do it are artists. You can’t just hold them in one lane. It’s like telling a painter you can only paint red apples. No, he’s an artist, he’s gonna play a lot of different things.
So I feel like you can’t really, I mean of course there’s gonna be some hate about it, but they can’t hate it if it sounds good.”
We’ll see what it sounds like, because Post obviously comes from the rap and hip-hop world, and Morgan definitely tends to pull inspiration from hip-hop as well with the production on his songs. It’s become a growing trend for pretty big artists outside of country to try to get in on it in some way, and in the words of the great Lainey Wilson, country really is cool again and we’re seeing more and more people who you’d never associate with it want to get involved.
Some of it’s been pretty good, some mediocre, a lot of it really bad, but that’s just the cost of being popular, I guess. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the saying goes. Obviously, something is in the works here, and whether it’s just a couple “country” songs or a full-blown album remains to be seen.
You can watch the interview here:
@billboard Big X Tha Plug talks about venturing into country music with Billboard at the iHeartRadio Music Awards 👀🤠 #bigxthaplug #dallas #postmalone #countrymusic #country #texas #bigx #shaboozey #morganwallen ♬ original sound – billboard
